The Winsford Academy
Grange Lane, Winsford, CW7 2BT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- HALLIARD TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Emma-Jane McLaren
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Halliard Trust
- Constituency
- Mid Cheshire
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,312
- Pupils on roll
- 945
- URN
- 136184
- Local authority
- Cheshire West and Chester
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01606592300
About this school
The Winsford Academy is a secondary academy in Winsford. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 945 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Inadequate
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: serious weaknesses.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 178 | 194 | 190 |
| Attainment 8 score | 33.2 | 29.3 | 30.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.85 -1.06 to -0.64 | -1.10 -1.30 to -0.90 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 21% | 11.3% | 13.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 38% | 27.3% | 28.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 30% | 29.4% | 13.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Winsford Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Cheshire West and Chester average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 33.2 | 41.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 29.3 | 40.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 30.6 | 38.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 14.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 18% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 16.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,056 |
| 2023/24 | 1,089 |
| 2024/25 | 1,023 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Winsford Academy compares
The Winsford Academy ranked 20th of 20 secondary schools in Cheshire West and Chester for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 22% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 1% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 30.6 | 16.7% | 44.9% | 945 | — |
| The County High School, Leftwich | 51.9 | 7.6% | 15.8% | 1,046 | 3.4 miles |
| St Nicholas Catholic High School | 50.8 | 8.2% | 14% | 1,201 | 3.6 miles |
| Middlewich High School | 41.2 | 8.3% | 25.3% | 665 | 3.7 miles |
| Hartford Church of England High School | 50.3 | 8.1% | 18.7% | 1,102 | 3.7 miles |
| The Rudheath Senior Academy | 35.7 | 12.4% | 34.6% | 576 | 4.7 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 44.87%
- English as an additional language
- 5.1%
- Overall absence
- 16.67%
- Persistent absence
- 45.4%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The County High School, Leftwich3.4 miles
Secondary · Northwich
-
St Nicholas Catholic High School3.6 miles
Secondary · Northwich
-
Middlewich High School3.7 miles
Secondary · Middlewich
-
Hartford Church of England High School3.7 miles
Secondary · Northwich
-
The Rudheath Senior Academy4.7 miles
Secondary · Northwich
Other schools in Winsford
- Darnhall Primary School Primary
- Grange Community Nursery and Primary School Primary
- Over Hall Community School Primary
- Over St John's CofE Primary School Primary
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Primary
- St. Chad's Church of England Primary and Nursery School Primary
- The Oak View Academy Primary
- Wharton CofE Primary School Primary
- Willow Wood Community Nursery and Primary School Primary
- Winsford High Street Community Primary School Primary
- Hebden Green Community School Academies
- Oaklands School Special schools
Common questions
- What year groups does The Winsford Academy teach?
- The Winsford Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Winsford.
- Who is the headteacher of The Winsford Academy?
- The headteacher of The Winsford Academy is Ms Emma-Jane McLaren, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Winsford Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Winsford Academy, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Winsford Academy?
- The Winsford Academy has 945 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Winsford Academy full?
- The Winsford Academy has capacity for 1,312 pupils and 945 on roll (72%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Winsford Academy a faith school?
- No. The Winsford Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Winsford Academy a selective school?
- No. The Winsford Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Winsford Academy?
- The Winsford Academy is part of HALLIARD TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Winsford Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 33.2 in 2022/23 and 30.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Winsford Academy rank locally?
- The Winsford Academy ranked 20th of 20 secondary schools in Cheshire West and Chester for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 22% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 1% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Winsford Academy's absence rate?
- The Winsford Academy's overall absence rate is 16.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Winsford Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Winsford Academy's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.